Say do you remember...cycling in September

[rebeccaC]

taking a few days to relax in the napa valley...been riding on silverado rd and side rd's off of it from yountville to calistoga. beautiful views and great weather......

[MarieV]

OMG, Rebecca, your photos are so beautiful! The light makes the colors so vibrant, they look surreal. I always think we're so spoiled with our scenery in the PNW, but the Napa Valley really is gorgeous.

Deena (salsabike), I actually thought about PMing you to see if you were doing the Cycle the WAVE ride, so we could actually meet. Darn! I thought the New Snoqualmie River Run was nice and easy with some beautiful views of farmlands and ranches, but I definitely liked the scenery, rolling hills, and mostly quiet roads on the Maltby-Granite Falls ride better.

[rebeccaC]

thanks marie....i think both here and the pnw have some beautiful scenery....

some more

[khg]

wow Rebecca! Thanks so much for sharing those photos! Keep them coming if you have more!

[rebeccaC]

thanks khg, today is about wine so no more riding .....heading south to carmel later today and a day in big sur tomorrow.

[Crankin]

Did my club ride today; the same 40 mile route as I did on Labor Day, but, it's much cooler and drier out (yay!).
So, the spirit of our Wednesday group seems to be changing. Older members are slowing down (I mean 75+) and want slower, shorter rides. We have a pretty big group of people who like the moderately paced (15-17 on the flats, slowing on hills), but those rides seem to be the shorter ones... the faster guys, and it's mostly, but not all guys, do longer routes, but they are quite speedy, probably averaging around 17-19. So, today, the longer ride was led by my friend, Jack, who clearly stated it would be at the regular pace. We did not start out slowly, and didn't stop at all until after we had climbed the 3 mile hill in Littleton. I told the sweep I was going to go very slowly, but in fact, I was not the last one up. When we got to the top, we stopped at an orchard and I heard the sweep and another guy grumbling about the pace, so I said something to Jack. He invited a group to go ahead and do a breakaway... thankfully, 4-6 did and Jack slowed down after I told him to! I mean my average was over 15 after 24 miles and the climb, and I knew I couldn't keep it up for 16 more miles, on rollers. So, I did enjoy the second half, after very nearly turning back before we climbed the hill.
Had pizza and beer, back at Jack's house to celebrate the "second 75th birthday," of the guy Jack and I have been pacing for the last few Wednesdays...

[ny biker]

I did my usual Wednesday night ride tonight, even managed to start a bit earlier than usual. I left the really bright headlight home -- I blame my job, too many meetings this morning distracted me when I was getting everything ready before leaving for work. I had a couple of smaller lights to make me visible, but struggled to see in the dark in a few spots. Fortunately I know the route and the bumpy stretches of road well enough to be able to do the ride without any mishaps.

Things have been very bad at work this week, and I really needed the bike ride to clear my head. I can't wait for the weekend.